


Treasure

by NebraskaWildfire



Series: Valparaiso [4]
Category: Alias Smith and Jones
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28883961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NebraskaWildfire/pseuds/NebraskaWildfire
Summary: Treasure is where you find it.
Series: Valparaiso [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118126
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14





	Treasure

For the first year in many, Sarah was able to enjoy the autumn. Her husband, Joseph, had always complained about this time of the year. His allergies were aggravated by the goldenrod and he shut himself inside while it was blooming.

Sarah on the other hand, loved late summer, early autumn, when the sun was still warm and the wildflowers were in riotous bloom before the true cold set in. The bright gold of the sunflowers and the dusty yellow of the goldenrod just made her smile with their brightness.

Joseph disagreed and said they were just weeds. She replied that one man’s trash was another man’s treasure. He just wrinkled his nose and then sneezed.

She was always very solicitous of him, and never brought the flowers indoors, as much as she might have wanted. Over the years, she decided it was for the best. She loved to travel through the fields covered with the blooms, as she conducted the bank business, since Joseph could not, due to his allergies.

She usually made a trip to the orphanage in the autumn, to insure the sisters had all they needed, before the winter arrived. Joseph thought this was a waste of time, as the sisters were very well off these days, running the orphanage for the most part on the interest of a large account, where they would never touch the principle. Joseph argued with Sister Madeleva time and again, but she was firm. The interest was enough for them.

The account started over ten years ago, when two anonymous donors began wiring large amounts of money for the sisters. The telegraph offices from which the money would arrive, always said it was a Mr. Rembacker and a Mr. Hotchkiss who sent the funds, but there was never any additional information about them. The money never came from the same location, but Sister Madeleva did start to notice that a good portion came from Wyoming. It was then that they stopped spending the capital and just used the interest.

It was also at that point when Sarah realized who was sending the money.

Sarah let the sun warm her face, as the horse and buggy took her to the orphanage. She let her mind drift back fifteen years. It was a similar time of year when she first met Jed. He was coming back from hunting. In those days, a brace of pheasants or a deer would have been very welcome to extend the food supply the sisters could provide. She had been out exercising her horse, came upon a rattlesnake, and her horse spooked.

He appeared out of nowhere, putting himself in some danger, to grab ahold of her horse and calm her.

She knew he was from the orphanage. The sisters did their best, but even though his clothes were clean and well mended, they were not new. She had seen him around before, when he was out hunting. His hair wasn’t as bright as the sunflowers covering the field, but softer, like the blooms of the goldenrod. His eyes were as blue as the clear autumn sky.

They met several times after that initial encounter. She came to know when he would likely to be hunting and he came to know when she would be riding. It was innocent and sweet, with both of them so young. They both knew nothing could come of it, with him from the orphanage, and she, the daughter of the bank president.

It was her suggestion that urged her father to fund Han’s attempt to go to Kansas State University, but it was her inability to dance only once with Jed that sealed its failure. 

It was the only time they ever met in town, where others could see, at the end of the school year dance. Sarah and Jed tried their best to avoid looking like they already knew each other. However, after sharing more dances than seemly, it was the fight with the Harris brothers that sealed the fate of Hannibal Heyes and Jedediah Curry.

The money did not start trickling into the sisters’ account for some time. Initially it was just cash sent through the mail. When it became large amounts from Hotchkiss and Rembacker, it was wired.

Sarah still had a sunflower that Jed picked for her, pressed in the pages of the bible her parents gave her for graduation. Joseph noticed it, but assumed it was a silly memento that any girl would have kept.

He went to his grave without knowing that it was the one and only flower she had ever been given from the boy who became Kid Curry.

By the time Heyes and Curry became famous, most of the town forgot the two young men from the orphanage who disappeared the night the bank safe was blown. Sarah, or Sally as she was known when she was young, remembered. So did Sister Madeleva.

Her father bemoaned that the bank would fail and everyone would lose confidence in it after the robbery. However since the boys took only what they thought they would need, it ended up only affecting the profits for that quarter. No one ever attributed that robbery to Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry. No one in the town even considered that young Han and Jed from the orphanage could have pulled off such a job. Speculation was that a gang had come in, taking advantage of the distraction of the July 4th celebrations, and hightailed it out of town before being discovered. A trail out of town was not found, other than that of the two horses that were taken from the livery. As the boys had left payment for them, most in the town thought good riddance to two of the many orphans. No one followed them. Sister Madeleva decided there was nothing she could do for them now, besides pray.

As Sarah came upon the orphanage, one of the young boys hurried out to take her horse and buggy, as she lithely hopped down. She turned to see Sister Madeleva waiting for her on the porch.

“Mrs. Cole, it is so very nice to see you today.” Sister Madeleva was not an overly demonstrative person, but her smile was genuine.

“Sister, you’ve known me since I was a child, please just call me Sarah.” She gave Sister a warm hug and they proceeded into the parlor of the home.

“Ah, but I knew you as Sally, all those years ago.” Sister Madeleva smiled and sent Sister Rita off to bring their guest some tea.

As they sat down, Sarah noticed the beautiful bouquet of sunflowers on the table.

“Oh, how lovely, sister!” Sarah exclaimed. “Some of my favorites.”

“The children so love to pick them and bring them to me.” Sister wrinkled her nose. “They brought me some of the goldenrod too, but I told them to put those in a bouquet we’d put outside. I think Sister Rita was supervising that on the back porch.

“Oh, I love the softness of the goldenrod too.” Sarah’s thoughts again meandered back among the years. “Do you ever hear from Jed and Han?”

Sister Madeleva sighed. “We still receive donations from a Mr. Smith and a Mr. Jones, not very regular or as large as when we received them from Mr. Hotchkiss and Mr. Rembacker, but still very loyally.”

“I’ve not read of any robberies attributed to them recently, other than the couple that later said it wasn’t them.” Sarah looked at the sunflowers, then at Sister Madeleva. 

“I’m hoping that my prayers all these years have finally been answered.” Sister Madeleva smiled and turned as Sister Rita returned with the tea.

Summer ended and autumn was cooling the days, when the sisters heard a knock on their back door late one night. Sister Rita was concerned about opening the door, but Sister Madeleva concluded that they should. It was a cool and windy night. Anyone out must have a reason to be.

Sister Patricia stood to one side, with one of the boys’ baseball bats loosely in her hands, as Sister Madeleva cracked open the door. As she always reminded them, ask the Lord for what you need, but make certain you help him provide.

The first thing she saw was a shivering young girl, being shielded from the wind by two tall men. 

“Come in, come in, please, out of the cold.” She then looked up into the eyes of the men, one pair chocolate brown, with dimples below, and the other pair pure blue, surrounded by curls as blonde as goldenrod. She knew these men, even though she had not seen them for over a dozen years.

“Hurry.” She ushered the three in. “Come by the stove.”

Sister Patricia lowered her bat, when she met their eyes. “Oh, my, it’s … our boys come back.”

The Kid went to sit in front of the stove with Mary, and Heyes turned to look at the sisters, as he took off his hat. He gave each woman a hug and then returned to the stove himself.

“I wasn’t certain you’d remember.” 

“With those dimples, and sky blue eyes, how could we forget?” Sister Patricia set the baseball bat to the side and started gathering the items needed to cook something to warm them.

“We’ve brought you a friend.” Heyes held his hand out to Mary and she shyly moved away from the Kid. “This is Mary.”

“Well, Mary we are very happy to have you here,” Sister Madeleva said. Perhaps you’d like to help Sister Rita make us something good to eat.

Mary looked back at Heyes and then the Kid, who nodded. Sister Rita came to take her hand and led her off towards the pantry.

“It has been a long time, boys.” Sister Madeleva’s gaze first met Heyes’ and then the Kid’s, who dropped his eyes.

“Yes, Sister it has,” Heyes replied.

“I’ve not heard much about your … exploits lately,” her eyes questioned Heyes.

“No.” Heyes looked down and then met her eyes again. “No, we’ve … uh, sort of retired.”

“Oh? Really?” Sister Madeleva had a look of genuine surprise on her face.

“We’re working on a deal, to clear our slate.”

“That probably will take a while.”

“Yes, Sister, it is.” Heyes smiled sadly, but then his dimples reemerged. “But we continue to have faith.”

“Good.” Sister Madeleva nodded. “Now let us work on the feast for the prodigal sons’ return. I don’t think we have a fattened calf, but maybe some beef stew will serve just as well.”

The boys had been at the orphanage a couple of days, making certain Mary was going to settle, and doing some repairs for the sisters, to the best of their ability. The cold weather held, so no visitors were likely to stop by.

Heyes had talked until he was blue in the face, but Sister Madeleva remained adamant.

“We survive just fine on the interest, Hannibal.”

“But you could do so much more if you invested the money in something with a higher rate of return than the bank can provide.”

“My conscience gives me enough problems, leaving the money there, but I doubt if there is any way to get it back to its rightful owners at this point.”

“No, Sister, there isn’t.” Heyes scowled. “Not without turning ourselves in.”

“Well, we don’t want that, so I’ll just have to continue to have discussions with God over the decisions I’ve made.”

“The money recently is from honest work, Sister.”

She nodded. “I was assuming so. We’ve actually spent some of that for upkeep.”

“Then I guess we have to agree to disagree.”

A knock came to the front door.

“Whoever would be out in this cold?” Sister Rita wondered, as she went to answer the door.

They heard some muffled voices, as Heyes and the Kid made a move to head out the back door, Sister Madeleva stopped them with a raised hand. 

“I don’t think you two have to worry about this guest.” Sister Madeleva smiled.

Sister Rita came back with Sarah. Her eyes became large when she saw who was with the sisters and she put her hand up to her mouth.

“Jed? Han? Is it really you?”

She held out her hands and Heyes let the Kid approach first. He grasped her hands, but then pulled her into a hug.

“Sally, it’s great to see you again.” The Kid released her and Heyes also gave her a hug.

“Why after all this time, are you back?” Sarah asked.

“They brought us a dear, sweet child who needs our help, much as they did once,” Sister Madeleva answered.

“Hopefully she will turn out better than we did, Sister,” Heyes replied wryly.

“Oh, I think, even after the life you’ve led, you seem to have turned out pretty well.” Sister Madeleva gave them a wise look and turned towards Sally. “Our boys are trying to make good in the end.”

“Really?” Sally found she couldn’t stay away from Jed and reached out towards him with her hand again. He gently took it, as if she were something out of a dream.

“Sister Rita, I think it’s time for some tea for us and maybe some coffee for the boys.” Sister Madeleva looked over the people before her and then met Heyes’ gaze. “We have some catching up to do.”

“You’re running the bank?” Heyes just smiled at Sarah and shook her head.

“Yes, and she’s managed to convince the town to fund several scholarships for our students,” Sister Patricia looked pleased. “We send most to the University of Nebraska just down in Lincoln, but a couple have gone to Kansas and Kansas State.” She smiled sadly at Heyes.

“I’m certain Papa is spinning in his grave,” Sarah huffed, then met Heyes’ eyes, and turned to look at the Kid sitting beside her. “I have always thought of it as one way for me to make amends, to both of you.”

“Sally,” Jed said softly. “We made the decisions we did and led the life we did.”

“If the sisters’ upbringing didn’t purge the anger,” Heyes stated. “I doubt if an education at Kansas State would have.” He laughed ruefully. “ Then I might have been smart enough to figure out how keep at it, rather than give it up as we have.”

She nodded, “Maybe we’re keeping others from following your path.” She reached for Jed again.

“Maybe.”

“Do you think you’ll ever get the amnesty?” Sarah had her hand on the Kid’s chest and he had his arms around her. They were standing on the back porch of the orphanage. Heyes had gone to get the horses from the stable and the sisters had busied themselves inside.

The Kid shrugged, but smiled, and with those luminous blue eyes looking at her, she couldn’t be disappointed. “Heyes keeps telling me we just gotta have faith.”

She nodded too and then waited for what she had never received when she was much younger and still known as Sally. The Kid bent his head and softly kissed her. 

Heyes had quietly come up with the horses.

“Don’t stay away so long next time.” She reluctantly let him go, but he bent to give her one more sweet kiss.

“You keep that bank running.” His eyes twinkled and he laughed.

“I’ve heard that won’t be a problem.” She smiled back. “It seems the two most successful outlaws in the history of the West have chosen a different path.”

The sisters came out to give the boys hugs before they left.

Heyes gave Sister Madeleva a hug and stopped to ask, “Do you mind if we stop back by, sometime, to check on Mary?” He then looked over to Sarah who was still standing by the Kid as he laughed at something Sister Rita said.

“You boys are always welcome,” she answered. “And I’ll keep praying.”

Heyes’ eyes sparkled. “Maybe I’ll start again.”

Sister Patricia laughed. “Well, then you two should have your amnesty in no time, because I doubt if even the Lord can resist the silver tongue of Hannibal Heyes.”


End file.
